Efficient adaptable wireless network system with agile beamforming

ABSTRACT

Beamforming for adapting wireless signaling beams in an adaptive and agile manner is contemplated. The beamforming may be characterized by adaptively constructing beam form parameters to provide wireless signaling in a manner that maximizes efficiency and bandwidth according to device positioning relative to a responding base station.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/922,595, filed Jun. 20, 2013, which in turn claims the benefit ofU.S. provisional application No. 61/662,454 filed Jun. 21, 2012, thedisclosures and benefits of which are hereby incorporated in theirentireties by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to wireless network systems, such as butnot necessary limited to adaptable wireless network systems havingcapabilities to facilitate beamforming.

BACKGROUND

In cellular and other wireless environments, one challenge is making themost efficient use of unused wireless spectrum. Wireless operators mayacquire contiguous spectrum bands, such as in a range from 10 MHz to 30MHz, where the spectrum may be divided among their customers. Assignaling demands increase, such providers may resort to a strategy ofdecreasing the size of wireless cells in order to re-use the requiredspectrum, which tends to result in ever decreasing cell sizes as demandcontinues to increase. The cell sizes, for example, have shrunk in sizefrom macro-cell, which could have a radius of 10 miles, to micro-cell topico-cell and more recently to femto-cell with radii of 100 meters orless. While decreasing cell sizes may increase re-use of the acquiredspectrum, the decreasing cell sizes also require additional cost tosupport and maintain the infrastructures (base stations) necessary tosupport the increased number of access points. In addition to theincreased infrastructural costs of smaller wireless cells, an operatorthat has license to transmit over a spectrum of 30 MHz and has dividedthese spectral resources into 5 MHz sections to enable a frequencyre-use strategy, may be limited to a peak rate of what can be achieve in5 MHz, as opposed to that which could be achieved if more of theacquired spectrums was available for use. Accordingly, the presentinvention contemplates a system that may address issues with totalcapacity and/or peak capacity while limiting the need to acquire morecellular spectrum licenses and/or access points or base stations.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless networking system 0 in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart for a method of facilitating wirelesssignaling using beamforming in accordance with one non-limiting aspectof the present invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates a graphical model of a beam form in accordance withone non-limiting aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical model of null-adjusted beam form adjustedto provide nulls towards neighboring base stations.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an aggregating unit facilitatingdownstream communications in accordance with one non-limiting aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an aggregating unit facilitatingupstream communications in accordance with one non-limiting aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a base station facilitating downstreamcommunications in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a base station facilitating upstreamcommunications in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a device facilitating downstreamcommunications in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a device facilitating upstreamcommunications in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosedherein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodimentsare merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in variousand alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; somefeatures may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particularcomponents. Therefore, specific structural and functional detailsdisclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as arepresentative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variouslyemploy the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless networking system 10 in accordance withone non-limiting aspect of the present invention. The system 10 mayoperate in a manner similar to the system described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/826,889, entitled Multi-Tier Polling, filed Jun.30, 2010, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated in its entiretyby reference. The system may include an aggregating unit 12 operablewith a plurality of base stations (center of hexagons) to facilitate anynumber of communication-based services for any number of wirelessdevices having capabilities sufficient to facilitate wireless signaling.A first base station 14 is shown relative to first and second wirelessdevices 16, 18. The aggregating unit 12 may be operable to schedulenetwork resources as a function of information gleaned while pollingeach base station individually and adaptively, i.e., polling messages orother types of polling related transmissions may be individuallycommunicated from the aggregating unit 12 to selective ones of the basestations at selective polling intervals in order to allocate networkresources according to base station demands. One non-limiting aspect ofthe present contemplates relying on this adaptive polling capability tofacilitate management of network space, including scheduling andcontrolling wireless signaling between the base stations and one or moredevices.

The aggregating unit 12 may be any type of device operable to facilitatescheduling transmission between the base stations and the devices and/orthe consumption of network resources associated with transporting datapackets and other information from the bases stations through long-haulnetwork resources. The present invention contemplates its use in manyenvironments where it may be desirable to manage network space andwireless signaling through controlling wireless operations of the basestations and/or the devices. The aggregating unit 12, the base stationsand/or devices may correspond with any type of electronic device and/orlogically executing unit having capabilities sufficient to supportcommunications with any type or combination of wireline and wirelessnetworks, including but not limited to those associated with cable,satellite, or network television; cellular, wireless, or wireline phonesystems; and wireless or wireline data transmissions. Optionally, thebase stations may be configured to facilitate wireless and/or wirelinesignaling in accordance with the signal processor and/or convertersdescribed within U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/769,288, entitledMultiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Communication System, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated reference by its entirety.

The present invention is predominately described with respect to a cabletelevision related configuration where the aggregating unit 12 may be acable modem termination system (CMTS) associated with a wired, cablenetwork provided to exchanging signaling with the base stations. Thebase stations may correspond with a cable modem, media terminal adaptor(MTA), settop box (STB), television, or other device desiring datacommunications over one or more of the networks to support cable relatedservices, such as according to communications executed according to theData Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS). The basesstations may be wireless access points, such as cellular towers, havingcapabilities sufficient to convert wireless signaling exchange with thedevices for long-haul transport. Of course, the present invention is notlimited to cable related services or cable dependent communications andfully contemplates its application within non-cable environments. Inparticular, the present invention contemplates the aggregating unitbeing operable with the base stations to facilitate operating as wiredor wireless access points having capabilities sufficient necessary toexchange signaling with the devices according to various protocols andsignaling standards, including those associated with cellular cells,Wi-Fi, Zigbee, etc.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates the basestations being configured to facilitate wireless signaling with thedevices, such as wireless signaling employed when communicating withcellular enabled devices, Wi-Fi enabled devices or other wirelessenabled devices. The base stations may be configured to exchangewireless signaling with the devices and to facilitate long-haulcommunication of the wireless signaling over a backend infrastructure,which may be associated with a public network (Internet) or some otherinfrastructure to facilitate communication with other remotely locatedbase stations or termination points, such as a cable and/or opticalinfrastructure. The base stations, for example, may be cellular towersor other devices having an antenna array or a plurality of antennaelements operable to facilitate beamforming where beam forms used tocommunicate with the devices may be selectively controlled and adaptedin the manner contemplated by the present invention to facilitatemaximizing network capacity and/or peak capacity while limiting the needto acquire more cellular spectrum licenses and/or access points or basestations. Optionally, some of the base stations may correspond withcellular towers and some of the base stations may correspond with Wi-Fiaccess points whereby the aggregating unit may be configured tofacilitate scheduling and controlling operations of the disparatedevices in order to facilitate the operations contemplated herein.

Each of the aggregating unit 12, the base stations and/or devices mayinclude a memory, processor, I/O and/or other features necessary toimplement the operations contemplated by the present invention. Thememory may store code, non-transitory instructions or other computerreadable information to be executed with a processor. The stored codemay support a layered operating system or architecture to supportdecoupling of the MAC and PHY layers, such as in a manner described inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/827,496 entitled System and Methodof Decoupling Media Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) OperatingLayers, filed Jun. 30, 2010, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety. The aggregating unit 12, thebase stations 14 and/or devices may operate according to architecturesorganized in compliance with the Operating System Interconnection (OSI)standard, DOCSIS, IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks(WLAN), IEEE 802.16 for wireless networks (WiMax), code/frequency/timedivision multiple access code (CDMA/FDMA/TDMA) standards for telephonycommunications and/or other layered based architectures and standards.Irrespective of the messaging standards or other protocol used tofacilitate communications, one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention quickly contemplates controlling beam forms transmittedbetween the base stations and the devices in order to achieve theefficiencies and operations contemplated herein.

The base stations are shown to be arranged into a wireless, celledstructure where a coverage area is formed as function of wirelesssignaling emitted from each base station. A hexagon centered at eachbase station may be used to represent default signaling patterns whereeach section of the hexagons corresponds with a beam form having a 60°beam angle, which may be considered to be a wide beam. The illustratedwide beam may be a default or initial beam form having beamformingparameters specifically selected for the corresponding environment toprevent wireless interference with neighboring base stations, i.e., thedefault or wide beam may have illumination parameters (frequency, power,etc.) selected to prevent interference with neighboring based stations.The base stations may include antennas having configurable beam formssuch that various beam forms may be employed depending on operatingconditions and other factors, including the base stations beingconfigured to facilitate simultaneously transmitting multiple beam formsand/or varying the default or angle of the beam forms. Rather than a 60°wide beam, a 120° wide beam angle may be used for the wide beam andsmaller beam angles, such as 10° or 20°, may be used to form narrowbeams, which as described below in more detail may be beneficial infacilitating the efficiencies contemplated by the present invention. Anumber of exemplary narrow beams are shown in phantom to emanate fromthe first base station 14 in order to illustrate the first base station14 transmitting some signaling as wide beams and other signaling asnarrow beams. The power levels, beam angles, delay, frequency and otherbeamforming parameters may be selectively adjusted to facilitatetransmitting the wide beams and/or narrow beams.

The first device 16 is shown to communicate using a selected one of aplurality of narrow beams (shown in phantom also). The first device 16may include antenna elements having capabilities similar to thoseemployed with the first base station 14 to facilitate selectivelycontrolling beamforming parameters in order to communicate according todesired beam forms. A first narrow beam 20 emanating from the first basestation is shown to align with a second narrow beam 22 emanating fromthe first device 16. While the beams 20, 22 are not shown to beoverlapping for illustrative purposes, the beams 20, 22 may overlap orotherwise be sufficiently interfaced to facilitate narrow beamcommunications between the first base station 14 and the first device16. The second device 18 is shown to communicate using anomnidirectional beam form 24. The omnidirectional beamforming 24 mayresult from the second device 18 having an omnidirectional antennalacking the capabilities associated with the antenna arrays describedwith respect to the base stations and the first device 16 and/or thesecond device 18 having a controllable antenna array where thebeamforming parameters are set to facilitate the illustratedomnidirectional beam form. The first device 16 and the second device 14may be configured to facilitate wireless signaling with a selected oneor more of the base stations, such as in response to base stationpolling or other instructions received from one or more of the basestations. The base stations may be configured to facilitatecommunications with one or more of the first and second devices 16, 18or other non-illustrated devices according to instructions received fromthe aggregating unit 12 and/or as a function of individually generatedinstructions or instructions received from other devices (not shown).

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart 30 for a method of facilitating wirelesssignaling using beamforming in accordance with one non-limiting aspectof the present invention. The method generally relates to facilitatecontrol of the base stations or other access points to facilitatecommunications with the devices or other endpoints having wirelesssignaling capabilities. Block 32 relates to determining devicepositioning. The device positioning may be determined using latitude andlongitude coordinates or other coordinate parameters (triangulation,GPS, etc.) to define device positioning relative to one or more of thebase stations. The device positioning may be determined as a function ofsignaling received at one or more the base stations, such as in responseto the device receiving a wide beam from one of the base stationstransmitting a polling/ranging message. The base stations may beconfigured to periodically transmit such wide beams, such as at safenon-interfering frequencies and/or power levels, in order toperiodically identify devices entering and/or exiting their particularcoverage area, i.e., cell. The base stations may optionally includepositioning information identifying its corresponding position in thewide beam polling or other transmitting signaling. The devices receivingsuch polling information may identify their relative positioning basedupon the positioning information provided from the base station. Thedevices and/or base stations may use the positioning information toidentify the closest base station or the base station to which it ismoving to in order to facilitate establishing further communicationstherewith, e.g., communications necessary to facilitate voice, data orother content-based communications.

The signaling carrying the polling messages from the base stations tothe devices may be transmitted as a wide beam in order to preventinterference with neighboring base stations and/or to facilitateconserving network resources, e.g., the wide beam may be transmitted atlower power levels or at slower bandwidths. The base stations may beconfigured to reuse the same spectrum for each of the wide beamsassociated with the hexagon sections in order to maximize spectrumre-use, which can be beneficial in ameliorating the amount of spectrumconsumed when identifying the devices requiring the services so that theremaining spectrum can be utilized to facilitate voice, data or othercontent-based communications. The devices may respond to a correspondingone of the base stations performing a polling operation using a narrowbeam directed towards the desired base station (see narrow beam 22 shownin FIG. 2). The responding device may determine the direction and/orangle of the narrow beam based on positioning information includedwithin the polling message. These beamforming parameters may be selectedin order to prevent interference with other neighboring base stationsand/or to enable lower bandwidth or lower power consuming communicationsbetween the device and targeted base station. The narrow beam response22 from the first device 16, for example, may be beneficial over theomnidirectional response 24 of the second device 18, as the narrow beammay 22 travel a greater distance than the omnidirectional beam 24 whentransmitted at approximately the same power levels due to the narrowbeam 22 being focused within a more constrained beam angle.

Block 34 relates to determining beamforming parameters. The beamformingparameters may correspond with control characteristics and/or variablesrelated to controlling the antenna arrays and/or antenna elementsincluded as part of the base stations and/or the devices to facilitatethe contemplated wide beam and narrow beam beamforming. The beamformingparameters may be specified on a per device, per packet, per frameand/or per session basis in order to generate desirable beam forms on anas needed basis. The beamforming parameters may include power level,frequency (wavelength), angle, delay, direction, etc., whereby the basestations and/or the devices may selectively utilize the availablebeamforming parameters to achieve the desired beam forms. The basestations and/or the devices may include an application or other programto facilitate selecting the desirable beamforming parameters, which mayoptionally operate in cooperation with the aggregating unit 12 oranother controller tasked with coordinating beamforming parameters formultiple base stations and/or devices located within a particularcoverage area. One non-limiting aspect of the present inventioncontemplates facilitating communication using narrow beams when possibleand/or when likely to achieve minimum levels of signaling required tosupport desired operational requirements.

The use of narrow beams may be beneficial in that the narrow beamsignals may travel further than a wide beam at a comparable power level,i.e., less power may be consumed when transmitting information using anarrow beam than if the same interface were transmitted using a widebeam. The use of narrow beams may also be beneficial in maximizingspectrum re-use without the additional infrastructural costs associatedwith having to add additional base stations as a single base station mayinclude capabilities sufficient to facilitate generating virtually anynumber of narrow beams, thereby enabling re-use of the same spectrumwithin each of the narrow beams. One difficulty with use of narrow beamsmay correspond with interferences resulting from the narrow beamstraveling farther than the wide beams, at least in that the narrow beamsmay be more likely to interfere with a neighboring base station eitherdue to increased power level and/or re-use of spectrum being similarlyused at the neighboring base station. One non-limiting aspect of thepresent invention contemplates controlling beamforming parameters in amanner that ameliorates the likelihood of narrow beams interfering withneighboring base stations. The interference may be limited bycontrolling the beamforming parameters such that narrow beams in-linewith a neighboring base station may be prevented from use altogetherand/or the particular beamforming parameters or illumination patterns ofthe narrow beam may be adjusted to prevent interference with aneighboring base station.

A narrow beam may be considered to be in-line with another base stationin the event the corresponding beam angle and/or beam direction wouldcross over a center of one or more neighboring base stations. Thein-line determination may also be based on a distance or anticipatedlength of the narrow beam in that a neighboring base station may berequired to be within a predefined distance of the narrow beamoriginating device (e.g. within two base stations) or a distance thatvaries according to and expected power level of the narrow beam (e.g.,power required to reach another base station). One non-limiting aspectof the present invention particularly contemplates controlling thebeamforming characteristics of narrow beams in order to ameliorateinterference with neighboring base stations. In addition to power levelcontrols, additional beamforming controls may include varying beamangle, e.g., a narrower narrow beam may be desirable in somecircumstances in which interferences may be avoided with improveddirectionality and/or a wider narrow beam may be used to diminish itsdistance or range. Another beamforming control may include adjusting orselectively determining the frequency and/or bandwidth of the narrowbeams to correspond with frequencies that are unlikely to interfere withneighboring base stations, i.e., frequencies beyond the reception rangeof the base stations, which may be particularly beneficial inenvironments where multiple or disparate types of base stations aresimultaneously providing services within the same coverage area.

Block 36 relates to transmitting the selected beam form according to thedetermined beamforming parameters. The selected beam form may correspondwith one of the above-described narrow and wide beams or some other beamshape having capabilities sufficient to facilitate the wirelesssignaling contemplated herein. The beam form may be transmitted forvarious purposes, including transmitting polling messages to identifysurrounding devices, receiving response messages and/or to facilitatecontent exchanges between the devices and base station. One non-limitingaspect of the present invention contemplates determining the nature orcontext of each beam form being transmitted from the base station and/orthe devices and adjusting the beam form as needed to maximizecommunication capabilities. FIG. 3 illustrates a graphical model of abeam form 40 in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention. The illustrated beam form 40 is shown to have a first shape42 centered at 30° with an approximate beam angle or width of 45° forexemplary non-limiting purposes as the present invention fullycontemplates any number of beam forms. The beam form 40 is shown toinclude a mirrored, second shape 44 at 180° offset from the first shape42 due to the configuration of the corresponding antenna array resultingin mirrored beam forms. While the mirrored beam form 42 is shown, thepresent invention is not necessarily so limited and fully contemplatesgenerating non-mirrored beam forms or a single shape for each desiredbeam form.

The beam form 40 is shown to include nulls (N) at approximately at 7.5°,52.5°, 187.5° and 232.5°. The nulls may be voids or areas within thetransmitted wireless signaling lacks any measurable or significant powerlevels. Additional areas 48, 50 of extraneous noise or interference maybe transmitted with the exemplary beam form 40. The power levels ofthese areas 48, 50 are significantly less than the peaks or centers ofthe first and second shapes 42, 44. While the power levels of theseareas 48, 50 are significantly less, the extraneous signaling mayprovide interferences or otherwise disrupt signaling a reception at theneighboring base stations. One non-limiting aspect of the presentinvention contemplates controlling the beamforming parameters accordingto the particular physical implementation of the antenna array of thecorresponding base station in order to facilitate directing nulls towardneighboring base stations. FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical model ofnull-adjusted beam 60 form adjusted to provide nulls towards neighboringbase stations. The null-adjusted beam form 60 may be configured in amanner similar to the beam form shown in FIG. 3 with the exception ofthe areas 68, 70 providing the extraneous noise or interferences adjoinfirst and second shapes 62, 64 being adjusted to provide additionalnulls (AN) at angles corresponding with neighboring base stations. Thenull-adjusted beam form 60 is shown to include additional nulls between75° and 90°, between 150° and 165°, between 255° and 270° and between330° and 345°.

The nulls and other beamforming parameters of the beam form desired fortransmission from any one or more the base stations may be adjustedand/or originally formatted in the manner described above to facilitatewireless signaling with the nearby devices. One non-limiting aspect ofthe present invention contemplates continuously adjusting the beam formsin order to track device movement, to accept new devices and/or to ceasecommunications with devices exiting the coverage area. Block 80 relatesto updating one or more the transmitted beam forms according to theseand other operations. The updating of the beam forms may correspond withadjusting beam angles, null positioning, frequencies, signal intensitiesand/or other beam transmission characteristics. The ability to updatethe beam forms may allow narrow beams to be continuous used while adevice passes through a particular coverage area, i.e., without havingto resort to wide beams, which may be beneficial in maintaining thebenefits associated with the use of narrow beams. While predominatelydescribed with respect to facilitating signaling between a single basestation and a single device, the present invention is not necessarylimited to the base station providing a single narrow beam for eachdevice desiring communications and fully contemplates multiple devicessharing the same narrow beam and/or providing multiple overlappingnarrow beams to facilitate communication with additional devices.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart 90 detailing operation of the aggregatingunit 12 with respect to downstream communications in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention. The downstreamcommunications may correspond with the aggregating unit 12 schedulingdata packets or specifying other information to be transmitted in adownstream direction from one or more base stations to one or moredevices. Block 92 relates to the aggregating unit generating networktransmission instructions, such as by building MAP elements and/or MACframe information sufficient to facilitate data transmissions from theaggregating unit or other transmitting device a downstream direction tothe base station for use in scheduling subsequent downstreamcommunication of data to the wireless devices. The MAP elements and/orthe MAC frame information may correspond with that described in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/954,079, entitled Method and SystemOperable to Facilitate Signal Transport Over a Network, the disclosureof which is hereby Incorporated by reference in its entirety. Thenetwork transmission instructions may include building a MAP header tospecify latitude and longitude coordinates for the receiving basestation and/or prepending downstream antenna illumination parameters(DsAIP), which may initially set wide beam (WB) parameters for the basestation antenna elements.

The MAP elements may assign or prepend parameters for each device orsubscriber end device (SED), including parameters for devices at a knownlocation, i.e., devices having a determined directionality one of thebase stations, subscriber transmit allocation (STxAlloc) (portions ofthe MAP assigned to a particular device), upstream antenna illuminationparameters (UsAIP), i.e., beamforming parameters for narrow beam (NB) orwide beam, and downstream antenna illumination parameters (DsAIP), whichtogether may be transmitted from the corresponding base station to thecorresponding device using a narrow beam. For devices having unknownlocations or that have not otherwise been associated with a particularbase station, the MAP elements may assign the corresponding STxAlloc andDsAIP to be transmitted from the corresponding base station to thecorresponding device using a wide beam. The MAP and/or MAC informationmay be transmitted from the aggregating unit to a corresponding one ofthe base stations in order to facilitate scheduling network resourcesused to facilitate long-haul transport between the aggregating unit orother device and the receiving base station. While the use of MAP and/orMAC information is described, the present invention is not necessary solimited and fully contemplates scheduling network resource according toother protocols and/or standards.

Block 94 relates to sending the MAP on a particular transmit interfaceto the desired base station. Block 96 relates to prependingsynchronization (sync) information to be transmitted from the receivingbase station using wide beam. The sync information may be used by thebase stations and/or the devices to synchronize operations to a commonclock or other temporal specification associated with the MAP. Block 98relates to transmitting a range-response (RNG-RSP) to devices havingknown locations with a narrow beam, including upstream antennaillumination parameters being prepended with downstream antennaillumination parameters. The RNG-RSP may be transmitted as a narrow beamdue to the known location of the devices. Block 100 relates totransmitting a downstream data message (DDM) prepended with DsAIP withina narrow beam. The DDM may include a payload for Web browsing, TV orother data requested by a device and can be transmitted as the narrowbeam in order to provide efficient transport to the device. Block 102relates to completing the messaging and other information exchangesnecessary to facilitate allocating the network resources associated witha particular frame and repeating the process to facilitate schedulingnetwork resources for additional frames. In this manner, the presentinvention contemplates repeatedly allocating network resources andadjusting UsAIP and DsAIP to facilitate use of wide beams and narrowbeams depending on whether the location of the device(s) is known, e.g.,wide beams may be used when the location is unknown and narrow beams maybe used when the location is known.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart 106 detailing operation of theaggregating unit 12 with respect to upstream communications inaccordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present invention. Theupstream communications may correspond with the aggregating unit 12receiving data or other information from the base stations and/or thedevices by way of the base stations. Block 108 relates to receiving arange-request (RNG-REQ) message having latitude and longitudeinformation regarding the transmitting device, which may includeinformation related to the capabilities of the transmitting device tosupport wide beams and narrow beams and/or a velocity of the device.This information may be transmitted from the device in wide beam as theRNG-REQ message may be considered as a request for upstreamtransmission, i.e., the device has not been previously scheduled toconsume upstream network resources. The use of wide beam may benecessary in this scenario as the location of the device may not havebeen previously determined. Block 110 relates to receiving and upstreamdata message (UDM) in a narrow beam from one of the device transmittingthe RNG-REQ. The RNG-REQ may identify the positioning of thetransmitting device and subsequent exchanges (see other flowchart) maybe used to establish the relative positioning of the device to acorresponding one of the base stations such that the use of narrow beammay now be possible to facilitate transport of the UDM. Positioningparameters and other information may be included with the UDM tofacilitate tracking movement of the transmitting device and tofacilitate subsequent adjustments to the DsAIP and/or UsAIP for thatdevice, e.g., to facilitate continued use of narrow beams.

Block 112 relates to the aggregating unit 12 assessing whether the UDMwas received as expected, i.e., whether that UDM was received within theparameters defined in the corresponding STxAlloc. If the UDM wasreceived as expected, the aggregating unit 12 may continue to monitorfor additional narrow beam data transmissions and/or wide beam requestsfor transmission scheduling. If the UDM was not received as expected,Block 114 relates to updating the DsAIP and/or UsAIP to cease furthernarrow beam communications in favor of wide beam or medium beam (MB)communications. The medium beam may include a larger beam angle than thenarrow beam and less than the wide beam and/or other with the mediumbeam having other varied beamforming parameters, e.g., a differentfrequency. The wide beam and/or medium beam may be beneficialcontrolling the transmitting device to transmit the next UDM using abeam that is more likely to be received by the desired base station,e.g., an error may result from the narrow beam being directed away fromthe desired base station such that use of the wide beam and/or mediumbeam may be used to ensure the beam is directed towards the basestation.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart 120 detailing operation of a base stationwith respect to downstream communications in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention. The downstreamcommunications may correspond with a base station providing a downstream(DS) packet to the desired one of the devices according to networkresources allocated by the aggregating unit 12. Block 122 relates to thebase station obtaining a next DS packet and facilitating its transportto the device according to the MAP information and/or informationspecified within the DDM or sync message. Block 124 relates to the basestation processing the MAP information and/or information specifiedwithin the DDM or sync message containing the appropriate DsAIP tofacilitate a beam sufficient for transmitting the DS packet to thedevice, which may be a narrow beam or wide beam depending on theparticular DsAIP. Optionally, wide beam may be used as a default due toits enhanced reliability in the event DsAIP are unavailable. Block 126relates to the base station processing the sync message in order tofacilitate timing delivery of the DS packet. Block 128 relates to thebase station processing the DsAIP, if available, to facilitategenerating the appropriate beam form. Block 130 relates to the basestation removing the DsAIP currently being used following transmissionof the DS packets, and thereafter, repeating the process fortransmitting new DS packets according to new DsAIP, i.e., wide beamsand/or narrow beams.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart 134 detailing operation of a base stationwith respect to upstream communications in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention. The upstreamcommunications may correspond with a base station facilitating upstreamtransmission of a data packet from one of the devices for long-haultransport. Block 136 relates to the base station utilizing the DS timinginformation for facilitate timing receipt of the upstream (US) datapacket. Block 138 relates to the base station forming the UsAIP definedin the MAP, if known, or using location and velocity information (Block140) if the UsAIP is unknown, to facilitate determining the appropriatebeam form. The alternative determination of the beam form (Block 140)may be used to provide a wide beam when the device is traveling fasterthan a speed threshold (portability mode) and a narrow beam when thedevice is traveling slower than the speed threshold (mobility mode).Block 142 relates to generating the desired beam form to facilitatereceipt of the upstream data message (UDM), which may be a narrow beamor a wide beam depending on the determination of the foregoing, anddefaulted to a wide beam it the absence of sufficient UsAIP. Blocks 144,146 relate to continuing the current beam form until the upstreamtransmission is completed, and thereafter, reassessing the desired beamform for continued upstream communications.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flowchart 150 detailing operation of a device withrespect to downstream communications in accordance with one non-limitingaspect of the present invention. Block 152 relates to one of the devicesextracting positional information (Lat-Lon) of the base stationtransmitting a corresponding wide beam and any available UsAIP from theincluded MAP information. Block 154 relates to the device alternativegenerating the UsAIP based on its location to the previously extractedpositioning information, i.e., generating narrow beam parameters forcommunicating with the bases station based on position and speed if suchnarrow beam parameters were not specified in the extracted UsAIP. Blocks156, 158, 160 relate to the device receiving a corresponding DDM,synchronizing for future DDM and repeating as necessary to receivefuture DDM. FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart 164 detailing operation of adevice with respect to upstream communications in accordance with onenon-limiting aspect of the present invention. Block 166 relates totransmitting the UDM with a narrow beam if possible, i.e., if thedirection to the base station is known and/or if the device velocity isappropriate, else defaulting to a wide beam. Block 168 relates to thedevice requesting scheduling for future UDMs if scheduling has notalready been provided, optionally using a narrow beam if possible. Block170 relates to completing transmission of the UDM or the request fortransmission of a future UDM.

As supported above, one non-limiting aspect of the present inventionrelates to a wireless network system incorporating beam-formingparameters for each transmission within their communication protocolbased on capabilities of base station and end devices, type oftransmission, velocity and distance leveraging higher antenna gains toachieve higher transport efficiencies. The contemplated beamforming maybe used to improve the peak rate performance of wireless and cellularnetwork users. It may allow wireless network operators to provide higherpeak rates to their customers, and thereby, enable additional and moredemanding applications and services. Operators can also leverage thehigher efficiencies to expand the reach of the base stations anddistribute the load to neighboring base stations that may have a lighterload. Use of narrower beams may also allow better use of spectrumresources due to capability of narrower beams to avoid frequencyoverlap. Proposed system could be integrated with wireline backhaulsystems like CableTV or FiOS networks. The potential commercial valuemay include: additional revenue due to the new services enabled;additional revenue due to the capability of servicing more customers inan existing area or sector; reduced pressure for buying new spectrum;and improved customer experience (due to improved performance) thatreduces churn and loss of subscribers. The present invention may beemployed with virtually any wireless network provider, cellularproviders, WiFi hot spots providers, broadband and/or wireline providersinterested in adding wireless capabilities to their networks. Broadbandservice providers can use this approach to implement a broadbandinfrastructure without the expensive last mile build-outs and for mobileand fixed subscribers.

One non-limiting aspect of the present invention contemplates anapproach that may leverage the use of agile beams using multi-elementantenna arrays, e.g., use of a base station antenna having theflexibility to dynamically change its beamwidth as well as the directionat which the beam is pointing. An exchange of messages between the basestation and the subscriber device may be utilized to facilitateestablishing the desired beam forms and other parameters associated withfacilitating wireless and/or wireline signaling. In these messages,information necessary to modify the beam direction and width may beincluded. A recipient or subscriber device could be portable and evenmobile, such as but not limited to a subscriber device having an antennawith an omnidirectional radiation pattern. The base station or accesspoint antenna may be stationary with the capability of changing its beamwidth. Depending on the construction of the base stations, the systemadjust its beam pointing parameters fast enough to follow a fast movingsubscriber device and/or the agile beam-forming approach may be limitedto slower moving subscriber devices that are deemed to be in a portablestate, e.g., a subscriber device in a mobile state may be omitted fromparticipating in the agile beam-forming. A methodology fordiscrimination between portability and mobility modes may be performedaccording to the processes described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/173,314, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by referencein its entirety.

The agile beamforming may include various processes, including aninitial ranging and registration period where the subscriber device inportability mode and the base station antenna operate in a wide beamwidth mode using 60 or 120 degree sectors. In this registration periodthe location of the subscriber devices may be estimated by any ofmultiple means so that with the location information the narrow beamdirection can be calculated. One subscriber device location approachcould leverage position information from a GPS device that iscommunicated through the ranging and registration messaging between basestation and the subscriber device. A second subscriber device locationapproach can be implemented using triangulation mechanisms using atleast three base stations and estimating distance based on the receivepower level from the different base station antennae. A third subscriberdevice location approach can be implemented using triangulationmechanisms using at least three base stations and estimating distancebased on the comparison of “chirp” like messages that are transmitted ina coordinated and synchronized fashion from the base stations.

A based station antenna that is suitable for this proposed functionalitymay be a multiple element antenna array that is capable of havingindependent controllable illumination of the antenna elements. In thecase of a 120 degrees beamwidth, a fewer number of contiguous antennaelements (such as 3) separated by a quarter wavelength can be used wherethe delay to each antenna element may be the same. In cases where anarrow beam is desired, all the antenna elements may be used with thedelay for each antenna element being correspondingly manipulated suchthat the generated wavefront or beam form points in the direction of thelocation of the subscriber device. One approach to generate the beam foreach MAC frame may include the messages carrying payload informationbeing sent with information carrying the antenna element illuminationinformation/parameters. This can be achieved by encoding information indifferent portions of the packet such as the MAC header or the PHY layerpreamble. This approach could be suitable when significant movement bythe subscriber device is expected. This approach could supportsubscriber end devices in mobility mode at the expense of the additionaloverhead resulting from adding antenna element illumination informationon each packet.

A second approach to generate the beam for the packets transmitted mayrely on a periodic ranging process where the location updates throughranging redirects the beam. This approach may be suitable when littlemovement by the subscriber device is expected. An approach that allowsagile beam-forming only for subscribers in portability mode iscompatible with this technique. The base station may leverage velocityinformation to determine whether the subscriber device is in portabilityor mobility mode, and predicts the switching between the two. When thesubscriber is in portability mode, the base station may utilize theperiodic ranging process to redirect the beam as described in the secondapproach. When the base station determines the subscriber is moving intomobility mode, it can either redirect the antenna beam on a frame byframe basis, or transition the subscriber on the wide-beam/larger sectortransmission pattern. Once the base station or access point isdetermined, latitude and longitude (lat-lon) information from an accesspoint or base station may be sent to the subscriber device. IfSubscriber device is portable and has beam-forming capabilities it canuse them to improve gain.

The beamforming system described above may enable gain and thecapability of using efficient modulation schemes, such as but notlimited to allowing for higher peak rate capabilities. While exemplaryembodiments are described above, it is not intended that theseembodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, thewords used in the specification are words of description rather thanlimitation, and it is understood that various changes may be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may becombined to form further embodiments of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium havinga plurality of non-transitory instructions operable with a processor tofacilitate wireless signaling using beamforming, the non-transitoryinstructions being sufficient for: wirelessly poll for a device with afirst beam transmitted from a first base station with a first beam form;determining a first position of the device based on a first responsetransmitted to the first base station in response to the first beam;determining a second position for a second base station and a thirdposition for a third base station, the second and third base stationsneighboring the first base station; controlling the first base stationto wirelessly service the device using a second beam having a secondbeam form, the second beam form including at least a first null and asecond null respectively directed towards to the second and thirdpositions; determining a first direction from the first base station tothe device based on the first response; determining whether the secondbase station is one of in-line or out-of-line with the first direction;and transmitting the second beam with a second beam angle less than afirst beam angle of the first beam when the second base station isout-of-line and with a third beam angle greater than the second beamangle when the second base station is in-line, including positioning thefirst null and the second null to be outside of the second beam anglewhen the second base station is out-of-line and to be outside of thethird beam angle when the second base station is in-line.
 2. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprisingthe non-transitory instructions being sufficient for forming the secondbeam with the third beam angle approximating the first beam angle andwith the first null and the second null with an extraneous noise portionof the second beam occurring outside of the third beam angle.
 3. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 further comprisingthe non-transitory instructions being sufficient for: controlling thefirst base station to receive the first response within a third beamtransmitted from the device toward the first base station, the thirdbeam having a fourth beam angle less than the first and third beamangles; and determining the second position and the third position fromcorresponding positional information included with the first response.4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 furthercomprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for:transmitting the first beam at a first power level and without nulls indirections corresponding with the first and second nulls; andtransmitting the second beam at a second power level approximately equalto the first power level.
 5. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 1 further comprising the non-transitory instructions beingsufficient for: transmitting the first beam with a first majority of acorresponding signal strength being centered at a first frequency; andtransmitting the second beam with a second majority of a correspondingsignal strength being centered at a second frequency different than thefirst frequency, including positioning the first null and the secondnull outside a portion of the second beam corresponding with the secondmajority.
 6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1further comprising the non-transitory instructions being sufficient forforming the second beam with the second beam angle being proportional toa speed at which the device is moving such that the second beam angle isgreater when the speed is greater and the second beam angle is smallerwhen the speed is slower.
 7. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumhaving a plurality of non-transitory instructions operable with aprocessor to facilitate wireless signaling using beamforming, thenon-transitory instructions sufficient for: wirelessly poll for a devicewith a first beam transmitted from a first base station with a firstbeam form; determining a first position of the device based on a firstresponse transmitted to the first base station in response to the firstbeam; determining a second position for a second base station and athird position for a third base station, the second and third basestations neighboring the first base station; controlling the first basestation to wirelessly service the device using a second beam having asecond beam form, the second beam form including at least a first nulland a second null respectively directed towards to the second and thirdpositions; determining a first direction from the first base station tothe device based on the first response; determining whether the secondbase station is one of in-line or out-of-line with the first direction;transmitting the second beam with a second beam angle less than a firstbeam angle of the first beam when the second base station is out-of-lineand with a third beam angle greater than the second beam angle when thesecond base station is in-line; determining the second base station tobe in-line when the second position of the second base station coincideswith the first direction and is within a first distance from the firstbase station; determining the second base station to be out-of-line whenthe second position coincides with the first direction and is beyond thefirst distance from the first base station; determining the second basestation to be out-of-line when the second position fails to coincidewith the first direction; and determining the first distance to beproportional to a power level of the second beam such that the firstdistance is greater when the power level is lower and the first distanceis shorter when the power level is greater.
 8. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium having a plurality of non-transitoryinstructions operable with a processor to facilitate wireless signalingusing beamforming, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for:wirelessly poll for a device with a first beam transmitted from a firstbase station with a first beam form; determining a first position of thedevice based on a first response transmitted to the first base stationin response to the first beam; determining a second position for asecond base station and a third position for a third base station, thesecond and third base stations neighboring the first base station;controlling the first base station to wirelessly service the deviceusing a second beam having a second beam form, the second beam formincluding at least a first null and a second null respectively directedtowards to the second and third positions; scheduling data packets to betransported within each of the first and second beams as a function ofinformation included within one or more two-dimensional MAPs, each MAPrepresenting network resources allocated to facilitate transmission ofdata packets according to a frequency and a time domain, the frequencyand time domains defining a plurality of minislots, each minislotdefining a capacity unit comprised of a plurality of frequencysub-carriers over time; forming the first and second beams according toparameters prepended to a corresponding one of the MAPs, determiningwhether data packets scheduled for transmission from the device to thefirst base station according to one of the MAPs are being received asscheduled; continuing use of the second beam when the data packets arebeing received as scheduled; and discontinuing use of the second beamwhen the data packets are no longer being received as scheduled,including implementing use of a third wide beam to receive additionaldata packets previously scheduled for transmission using the narrowbeam.
 9. A method by use of a system for facilitating wireless networkaccess using beamforming, the method comprising: transmitting a firstbeam from a first base station to facilitating polling for devicepresence at a first beam angle; receiving a first response to the firstbeam from a device within a vicinity of the base station; determining afirst positioning of the device based on the first response, includingdetermining a first direction from the first base station to the device;determining whether a second base station is one of in-line orout-of-line with the first direction; transmitting a second beam fromthe first base station in the first direction toward the device if thesecond base station is out-of-line, the second beam providing networkaccess through wireless signaling at a second beam angle less than thefirst beam angle; transmitting a third beam from the first base stationin the first direction toward the device if the second base station isin-line, the third beam providing network access through wirelesssignaling at a third beam angle greater than the second beam angle;determining relative position of the second base station and one or moreadditional base stations neighboring the first base station; and formingthe second and third beams to include one or more additional nullscorresponding with the relative position of one or more of the secondand additional base stations, including forming each of the additionalnulls to be outside of the second beam angle when the second basestation is out-of-line and to be outside of the third beam angle whenthe second base station is in-line.
 10. The method of claim 9 furthercomprising: transmitting the second beam at a second frequency differentthan a first frequency of the first beam; and transmitting the thirdbeam at the first frequency.
 11. The method of claim 10 furthercomprising transmitting the first, second and third beams atapproximately a same power level.
 12. The method of claim 11 furthercomprising forming the wide beams at an approximate beam angle of 45°centered at 30° with nulls at approximately at 7.5°, 52.5°, 187.5° and232.5°, the nulls being different than the additional nulls.
 13. Themethod of claim 9 further comprising transmitting the first and thirdbeams as wide beams and the second beam as a narrow beam, the wide beamshaving a wider beam angle than the second beam.
 14. The method of claim9 further comprising: scheduling data packets to be transported withineach of the first, second and third beams as a function of informationincluded within one or more two-dimensional MAPs, each MAP representingnetwork resources allocated to facilitate transmission of data packetsaccording to a frequency and a time domain; and forming the first,second and third beams according to parameters prepended to acorresponding one of the MAPs.